Each finalist school received $40,000 in technology. The grand-prize winners will each receive $110,000 in prizes from Samsung, the Adobe Foundation and DirecTV.

Three grand-prize winners will be named by a group of judges at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference in March. A fourth grand-prize winner will be chosen by Samsung employees, and a fifth winner, the Community Choice Award Winner, will be chosen by a public online vote.

"We are very excited about our finalists and congratulate them for the creativity and hard work they showed through their entries," Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy of Samsung Electronics North America David Steel said in a statement.

Vincent said the students are excited about the distinction of being finalists in the competition.

"After viewing other videos, they really feel like they have a decent chance of winning one of the top five spots," Vincent said.